In order to understand how the PuppetMaster works, let us briefly lay out the overall architecture in which it works, the Probes system. The architecture of Probes is presented in Figure 2. The simulation exercise analysis is guided by an Exercise Task Description, which describes the mission objectives and instructional objectives. The mission objectives describe the students' goals and what is known about current conditions. The instructional objectives provide a breakdown of the skills that need to be analyzed during particular phases/situations in the exercise. The exercise task description is used to generate a situation space.
The PuppetMaster uses the situation space to determine what information is required to recognize and analyze a situation. Monitoring instructions are sent to the Articulate Adaptive Monitors that are embedded in the instrumented ModSAF entities. Depending on their instructions, these local monitors collect the data requested by the PuppetMaster and report back, either on a regular basis, or when interesting events occur, or in response to queries from the PuppetMaster. The Puppet Master uses the data that it receives to interpret and assess the situation. Output to the instructor is controlled by the Display Manager, which in turn sends commands to the display software.
The situation space and its role in the PuppetMaster's evaluation is central to this paper. It is this aspect that we consider next.
